Project management is the process of the usage of skills, knowledge, tools and techniques in application to the project activities, in order to meet project requirements.

Project management processes can be divided to a few steps:

  • Initiating;
  • Planning;
  • Executing;
  • Monitoring and controlling;
  • Closing.

The project initiating process consists of two steps, like creating a project charter and stakeholder identification. The document project charter is the authorisation of the project document that also lists the requirements and expectations of the stakeholders. The stakeholders identification consists of the identification and documentation of all the project participants who are involved in the project.

Planning a project process. This step is targeted to define necessary actions needed for making the project. During this step the documents should be designed for controlling the project. The result of this step should be Project Management Plan and Project Development Documents. The Project Management Plan is the document that defines, integrates and coordinates all the project plans.

This document is the first source of information on the project, and it also helps to control and adjust the project. During this step, requirements should be collected from all the stakeholders. This step should also define the scope of the project, which includes a detailed description of the project and the final product.

During this step a Work Breakdown Structure should be defined that defines the project in parts. This step should define and sequence the actions of the project. The planning procedure should also include the estimation of activity resources and their duration, cost estimation and developing a schedule. The last action for this step should be calculating the project budget.

During the execution of each step it may be required to reschedule and re-check the project activities. It can result in some changes in the schedule, productivity and costs of the project.

Monitoring and controlling the process includes tracking the intermediate project results, reviewing it and analysing it, compared to planned activities and intermediate phases. Monitoring and controlling should happen continuously, and it will help to keep projects on track, adjusting it if needed.

The closing step is for reviewing and checking if all the planned processes are completed, and desired results are obtained. During this step, the closing team should obtain the confirmation of all the stakeholders, sponsors and customers about the completion of all the steps with desired results, in order to make a final review, and document the completion of all stages and steps of the project.

 

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